Chi Mgbako is a Nigerian-American human rights professor, lawyer, and writer based in New York City. A graduate of Harvard Law School and Columbia University, she has conducted human rights fieldwork, advocacy, and teaching in Ghana, Ethiopia, Liberia, Malawi, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and Uganda. She has published in the areas of women’s rights, justice sector reform, and contemporary politics. She is currently clinical associate professor of law at Fordham Law School in New York City where she directs the Walter Leitner International Human Rights Clinic.

How basic architectural design can aid in the fight against maternal mortality

The architectural design of two newly built public maternity hospitals in Malawi, which has one of the world’s highest rates of women dying in childbirth, seeks to respect the human rights of birthing women and has had a significant impact on Malawi’s maternal health care system. Ill-designed government-run maternal health centers litter many poor countries and contribute to unacceptably high maternal death rates. There’s a pressing global need to design public maternity units that uphold the dignity of socially disadvantaged women.